India ‘must install 10GW of renewables each year’

India needs to install more than 10GW of renewables each year between 2017 and 2022 to meet its green target.

According to a new study, total annual investments in Indian utility-scale projects crossed the $10 billion (£8.18bn) mark last year, a figure that will need to reach $14 billion (£11.45bn) to hit the country’s 175GW renewables target for 2022.

This money would pay for the necessary increase in utility-scale renewables from 39GW in 2015 to 135GW in 2022, states Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF).

Indian project developers are trying to raise this investment from a variety of financial organisations and by issuing green bonds.

The fast-growing rooftop solar sector will need another $50 billion (£40.89bn) to provide the remaining 40GW. Annual installations have increased by nearly three times (from 72MW to 227MW) in the past three years and this trend is expected to continue.

The cost of electricity from rooftop solar is falling, with prices now as cheap as $69Mwh (£56.43Mwh), with lower costs driving market growth.

Shantanu Jaiswal, Lead India Analyst at BNEF said rooftop solar power costs are “now competitive with tariffs paid by industrial and commercial consumers and often comparable to average residential electricity rates”.